You’re creative. It doesn’t matter what your mother said. It doesn’t matter what some art teacher told you. It doesn’t matter what you think. You’re...
Better Writing
Write drunk. Edit Sober.
“Write drunk. Edit sober.” Whether Ernest Hemingway ever said those words or not, there’s wisdom in that quote. It just doesn’t have anything to do...
3 Ways Keeping a Journal Will Help You Write Better
Call it a journal, a writer’s notebook, or an idea file. It doesn’t matter what you call it. Keep it on a computer, loose sheets of paper, or in a...
How to Get the Most from Your Writing Talent
In 1989, Daniel Chambliss wrote about the making of Olympic swimmers. He coined the phrase “The mundanity of excellence” to describe how the best...
Let your brain play!
Dog walking time. It’s good for me. It’s good for my dog, Toto. And it’s good for my brain. When you’re writing, you may be tempted to bear down and...
2 Simple Writing Momentum Hacks
My clients are what I call “semi-pro writers.” Writing isn’t their day job. Instead, they need to squeeze it into a calendar that’s already stuffed...
Enemies of Great Writing
Writing a book takes time, energy, focus, and sacrifice. You must also defeat or subdue the enemies of great writing. Here are five of them, along...
4 ½ Things You Don’t Need for a Productive Writing Session
If you’ve got plenty of time to write, this post is not for you. I’m not like that. My clients aren’t like that. We must squeeze our writing into...
Writing conversationally: why it’s hard and why it’s worth it.
For many years, I made a good portion of my income by giving speeches. Fifty or more times a year, I d hit the road to speak to an audience I'd...
Better Writing: 7 Things to Try to Improve Your Writing
"Experiment.Make it your motto day and night.Experiment, and it will lead you to the light." That's Cole Porter's advice. He wrote the song...